Soap tray



July 15, 1958 I HOWERTON 2,842,893

7 SOAP TRAY Filed Nov. 5. 1956 Harley Howerfon INVENTOR,

SQAP TRAY Harley Howerton, Cartel-ville, Ill., assignor of one-third to James Howerton, Carter-ville, Ill.

Substituted for abandoned appiication Serial No. 579361, February 26, 1945. This application November 5, 1956, Serial No. 620,436

1 Claim. (Cl. 45-==-28) This is a. substitute application for my abandoned application which was filed on February 26, 1945, and which bore the Serial No. 579,861.

The invention relates to a support and dispenser for a. cake of soap.

An object of the invention "is to provide a support in the form of a soap tray for a cake of soap, the support being provided with means to tilt a platform in the soap tray in order to expel the soap therefrom by having it drop conveniently in the same hand of the user which is employed for tilting the platform.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompauying drawing forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figiu'e 1 is a perspective View of a soap tray which is constructed in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 2.

In the accompanying drawing there is a soap tray which is constructed in accordance with and to demonstrate the principles of the invention. The soap tray is made of a support 12 that has a back 14, side walls 16 and 18 and a bottom 2t) which slopes downwardly from the back and terminates at its forward end in a curved end portion 22. The back, side walls and bottom form a. box like closure which is open at its forward end and in which to accommodate a bar of sea it is preferred that the side walls have rounded upper edges with a depending skirt 24 extending downwardly therefrom and at the back wall be similarly constructed in order to make the soap tray more attractive. If desirable ordinary means may be used to attach the soap tray onto a supporting surface, for example a wall. These ordinary means would include screws or like fasteners. Other means, as the four suction cups 26 mounted on inwardly directed ears 28 along the back edge of the skirt for the back 14 may be adopted. The drain opening 35 may be formed in the bottom 2% near the curved forward end portion 22, and there is a guard 34 beneath the drain opening lid in order to prevent drainage from striking the transverse pivot bar 36 and accumulating thereon.

Transverse pivot bar 36 extends across the front part of the soap tray, being located beneath the bottom 26) and attached to the lower parts of the side walls 16 and 18 respectively. Platform 4% is mounted for pivotal movement on the pivot bar 36. The platform is fabricated of a plurality of parallel rods 42 interconnected in fixed relationship by transverse brace rods 44 that are welded or nitd Sttes Patent otherwise rigidly fixed in place. The inner end of the platform is upwardly curved as at 46 to provide a stop for the inward movement of the bar of soap while one of the brace bars functions as a rest, coming to bear on the upper surface of bottom. 29. The opposite end of the soap supporting platform 40 is smoothly curved rearwardly by having each of the parallel rods provided with the rearwardly directed end portions which protrude through a plurality of reentrant slots 5% that are formed in the curved end portion 22 of bottom 20, Eyes 52 are formed on the forward extremities of the parallel rods and they are attached to the pivot bar 36.

A hand lever 56, which may assume the form of a forwardly curved plate, is attached to the pivot bar 36 and is adapted to be actuated by the fingers of the user of the soap tray as shown in Figure 2.

in operation the soap tray 10 is installed on a wall, on a flat supporting surface or in some other way depending on the desires of the user. When the soap is placed on platform 46, it is spaced considerably above the bottom 2% and located within the box-like closure made of the back 12, two side walls 1.6 and 18 and bottom 26 Any liquid may drain down the sloping bottom 2i Then to discharge the bar of soap, the finger tips are pressed against hand lever 56 causing pivot bar 36 to rotate thereby rotating the platform 4% with it and automatically sliding the bar of soap onto the awaiting hand of the user.

it is understood that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the scope of the invention as claimed. For example the previous description has the platform rigidly connected to the pivot bar 36 and the hand lever 56 connected in a like manner thereto. It is understood that the pivot bar 36 may be stationary and the eyes 52 rotatable thereon. In this case the hand lever 56 will be attached to the eyes 52 or some other part of the platform 40. Other modifications such a this one specifically described may be made.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

A soap tray comprising a back, side walls and a bottom defining a box-like tray open at its forward end, said bottom sloping downwardly from said back and terminating at its forward end in a curved end portion, a platform fabricated of a plurality of parallel rods interconnected in fixed relation by transverse brace rods superposed over said bottom in elevated relation thereto and adapted to support a bar of soap, a pivot bar beneath said bottom pivotally supported at its ends on said side walls, said curved end portion of said bottom being provided with a plurality of reentrant slots, each of said parallel rods being connected at their forward ends to said pivot bar, said forward ends of said parallel rods being each constituted by a rearwardly directed end portion adapted to extend through an associated slot for connection to said pivot bar, a hand lever fixed at its upper end to said pivot bar and depending therefrom in a curved forwardly direction, said hand lever being adapted to be engaged by the hand of a person to cause said platform to tilt upwardly whereby the bar of soap supported thereon will slide down into 'the hand of said person.

References (Cited in the file of this patent UNiTED STATES PATENTS 659,803 Weller Oct. 16, 1900 1,135,857 Smith Apr. 13, 1915 1,554,832 Antleman Sept. 22, 1925 1,946,884 Rutherford Feb. 13, 1934 

